A Statement from the NPCA Board of Directors
NPCA strives to be a trusted leader and convener within the Peace Corps community. Building and maintaining trust requires intentional listening. The Board takes concerns over the workplace environment very seriously and is working to address concerns among the staff and the community. We want to emphasize that NPCA is listening to the voices from all our stakeholders, and we hear that some members of our community are concerned that NPCA is not where we aim to be. No organization is perfect, but we wholly commit to be better.
As such, the Board has taken action to address issues and evolve as needed. Three board task forces have been established to ensure we continue to act as an inclusive leader for the Peace Corps community. Each of these task forces, with clear time-bound objectives, is headed by a member of the NPCA Board of Directors. The three task forces are:
- The Community Concerns Task Force, which has a mandate to better understand the new concerns that are being raised to the Board’s attention from the staff and community and to propose, within 90 days, appropriate actions for the NPCA Board to take to address these concerns. This committee will catalog the concerns including those related to the work environment that have been raised as well as any others that come to our attention and recommend to the Board a plan of action to address them.
- The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Policy Task Force, which is tasked to use the previously adopted NPCA DEI Framework to develop an DEI Policy for NPCA that will help promote a positive organizational culture. The draft DEI Policy should be prepared for consideration at the September NPCA Board Meeting.
- The Communications Task Force is tasked to help NPCA better engage the staff, affiliate groups, donors, grantors, and others in open and greater dialogue with our community as we seek our new NPCA president.
The work of these groups is already underway and the community will be engaged to support these efforts. The outputs will be utilized by the Board to take action and provide direction to ensure that our organization is on the best course to continue to lead the broad Peace Corps community in the future. If you would like to provide input to any of these efforts, please contact president@peacecorpsconnect.org.
MeaningLESS blah!
I fear that what may be lost in this Washingtonian murk is the core of NPCA's advocacy work: the health, safety and working conditions of current Volunteers and the smooth readjustment of returning Volunteers. That's our mission, Board members. That's why we members donate.
Frank Innes, RPCV Samoa 1967-70
Angela Tuttle, RPCV Cameroon 1990-93
Scott Lewis
Voluntee Eswatini 78-80
Senegal staff 88-93
HQ staff 93-98
Summary Conclusions of Investigation
I was engaged by NPCA to conduct an investigation of the complaint of sex discrimination filed with the Board on September 15, 2021. On Tuesday, February 1, the NPCA Executive Committee met with me for several hours to review the findings of the investigation. My investigation was extensive. I interviewed 15 witnesses, including each of the 4 complainants, for a total of 89.9 hours; reviewed hundreds of pages of documents; received supplemental written answers from witnesses; and held several substantive conversations with Steven Kahn, the attorney who represents two of the four complainants.
In my investigation, I considered whether there was (a) direct evidence of sex discrimination (statements that on their face demeaned or stereotyped women); (b) comparative evidence of sex discrimination in which a male employee and a female employee were similarly situated in all relevant respects, but the female employee was treated less favorably; (c) evidence of pretext in which a manager gave a false statement of his or her reasons for an employment decision; or (d) evidence of an adverse employment action that followed closely in time an employee's engaging in legally protected conduct, such as making a complaint of unlawful discrimination. I also considered whether there was any discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult at NPCA that was sufficiently severe or pervasive as to alter the conditions of any female employee's employment and thus create an abusive working environment.
I concluded that the evidence does not support any finding of unlawful sex discrimination, harassment or unlawful retaliation against any of the four complainants. I also found that none of the three parties charged in the complaint engaged in any unlawful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation or violated any of NPCA's policies concerning discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.
Doug Herbert
Law Office of Douglas C. Herbert
109 S. Buchanan Street
Arlington, Virginia 22204
202-997-1474
I couldn't agree with you more. It's just that my observation and that of some others is that that is not how the swamp operates. There were charges, an investigation and a clearance of... see more Franklin,
I couldn't agree with you more. It's just that my observation and that of some others is that that is not how the swamp operates. There were charges, an investigation and a clearance of those charges. It doesn't seem to matter to the Washington non-profit crowd. The woke crowd will still destroy the accused. The report by the investigators was clear and concise. It doesn't matter. We are eating our own and it is sad to see. Al Hall Nigeria/Malawi "66-'70